Kansas Water Institute Staff

The Kansas Water Institute will be staffed by the existing Kansas Water Resources Institute staff members who are already deeply familiar with the institutional and agency partnerships necessary to advance its efforts.

Susan Metzger, director

Susan Metzger serves as director of the Kansas Water Institute, or KWI, and the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, or KCARE. Susan is the director of strategic interdisciplinary program development for Kansas State University.

Susan has broad experience representing K-State and Kansas agriculture. Before her work at K-State, she was the deputy/assistant secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, where she served the farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses of Kansas and assisted in the development and delivery of tools to grow the state’s agricultural economy. Prior to that, she was the chief of planning and policy for the Kansas Water Office, where she was the team leader in the development and implementation of the Long-Term Vision for the Future of Water Supply in Kansas.

Randy Griffith, grants specialist

Randy Griffith is the grants specialist for KWRI. His responsibilities include the day-to-day financial management of awards as well as the KWRI accounts.

Randy has had more than 40 years of experience at K-State in various departments, but his connection to K-State began as a student when he received a bachelor's degree in business administration — marketing. His previous professional experience includes positions in the Admissions Office, Global Campus, Financial Services, and the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering.

Melissa Harvey, marketing and communications coordinator

Melissa Harvey joined the team as a marketing and communications specialist in 2017. She is responsible for developing materials for print and online publication, writing articles for the KCARE website, and working with faculty and staff to write any other articles for publication. Prior to working at K-State, she has worked as a writer and communications coordinator at the University of California, Davis, as well as a consulting science writer and editor at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. Melissa received her bachelor's degree in English from Washington and Lee University in Virginia.